While WebRTC has been innovating at an impressively rapid rate, the users of the web and mobile apps have been delighted with lots of new experiences. We’ve started connecting to people across different timezones, countries, and even continents in real time, on just about every sort of device. But when we ask developers, the people who dream up the next wave of crazy ideas, what they need in order to keep delighting their users we hear a few things over and over.
One of the most requested features of the platform that developers are patiently waiting for is WebRTC broadcasts at scale. The technical challenge is about getting the right stream (with the right bitrate, and the right encoding) out to all the different types of people who are watching, with their vastly different networks and bandwidth capabilities.
Today, TokBox is announcing our latest innovation for the platform: a new codec called AF14. It is specifically designed to encode video signals at such a low bit rate that many of the users on the hardest-to-reach networks can enjoy superior video quality. Don’t just take our word for it, take it for a spin yourselves:
The current state of the codec space for WebRTC has mainly been dominated by two big contenders: H.264 and VP8/9. They both have their unique advantages in different applications and conditions. So the standards bodies have wisely opted to not to chose an MTI (Mandatory to Implement) codec(s) for the standard (it’s totally not political). That gap leaves room for even more innovation in the space, like AF14, which TokBox is introducing today.
We hope you all enjoy the demo, and if you are a developer that wants to start working with this groundbreaking technology for you next application, contact us in the comments for access to our beta program.